


I Found Peace in the Silence

by Alitomy



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Booker gets better, Gen, The Team Try to Keep In Contact with Booker without Letting the Others Know, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, secret phone calls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:00:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alitomy/pseuds/Alitomy
Summary: The team individually contact Booker in secret, thinking the others won't approve.It all comes to light when Booker changes his number, causing mild panic in the group of four.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 134





	I Found Peace in the Silence

**Author's Note:**

> title is from Silence by Marshmello and Khalid but i tweaked the lyrics  
> i know its not the actual lyrics pls dont come for me lol

It didn’t even take a year before Nile convinced Copley to give her Booker’s current number. 

“Ms Freeman, he’s doing just fine,” Copley told her, earning himself a scoff over the phone. “I don’t think it’d be best-” 

“Give me the damn number, Copley,” she huffed, waiting a moment before her phone pinged with the message. “Thank you. Don’t tell the others about this.” 

Copley chuckled quietly over the phone, knowingly. “Wouldn’t dream of it, I value my life far too greatly.” 

Nile said her goodbyes and hung up, pressing the screen a few times until Booker’s new number was staring at her almost menacingly. She took a deep breath and smiled to herself before pressing the link and brought the phone up to her ear again, the dial tone ringing loudly. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey Book, how are you?” 

~

Joe fidgeted with his fingers more than usual, and Nicky knew something was wrong. Normally, Joe would distract himself with drawing or sparring or Nicky himself, but he looked rather nervous as he sat down next to his partner on the couch. 

“What’s wrong?” Nicky asked, wrapping an arm around Joe’s shoulders and pulling him close. “Joe?” 

The man sighed and nuzzled his face into Nicky’s neck before he spoke. “I miss Booker.” 

It had been almost a decade since that day in London, and Nicky was wondering when the love of his life would express his concern over the Frenchman. He knew Joe inside and out, and it came to no surprise that he felt this way, even if it was too early for reconciliation. 

Pulling out his phone, Nicky held it out for Joe to take, a number already loaded on the screen, ready to be pressed. At Joe’s furrowed brows, Nicky smiled and nodded. 

“It’s okay. I called him a few weeks ago.” He pressed a kiss to Joe’s temple. “I wasn’t sure if you were ready so I didn’t tell you, I hope you don’t mind.” 

Joe shook his head before turning and capturing their lips together softly. “Nonsense, it’s okay. Would you like to stay and talk to him again?” 

“I will stay here, but I will stay silent. You talk to him as much as you need to,” Nicky said softly and ran a hand through Joe’s curls as the man pressed the number on the screen and brought the phone up to his ear. 

~

Andy had been calling Booker since the beginning, though a lot of time passed between each connection. Knowing the others, especially Joe and Nicky, needed the space to heal, she kept their contact secret, calling the Frenchman when she was checking the perimeters or alone in the safehouse. 

Andy knew the others wouldn’t question her if she told them, but she just thought it would be best if they didn’t know. They didn’t need that rift to reopen now that it had somewhat sealed over. 

Sighing to herself, she pulled out her burner phone and punched in the number she had memorised for Booker. Bringing the phone up to her ear, she frowned as the automated voice relayed instead of the dial tone. 

_’The number you have dialled has been discontinued.’_

Frowning, she hung up and called Copley, getting an answer on the second ring. 

“Andy.”

“Why is Booker’s number out of use?” She demanded, and hearing the other man on the phone sigh she clenched her fists. “Copley!” 

“Booker asked me to get him a new phone and number, he couldn’t handle everything,” Copley explained, then quickly added, “He asked me not to share it with anyone.” 

“Bullshit.” 

“I’m sorry, Andy. I’m not going to go against his wishes.”

“What do you mean, ‘he couldn’t handle everything’? Is he in trouble?” Andy backtracked, chewing on her lip. “If he’s in trouble and you don’t tell me..” 

“He’s fine, I promise you,” Copley said. “But I’m in no position to tell you why he wanted a new number. My position is to have the trust of all of you, Booker included. I will not break it.” 

Andy let out a groan and hung up, not caring about proper phone etiquette before walking back to the safehouse. At the sound of the front door slamming open, the other three looked up in alarm. 

“Is everything okay?” Nile asked, putting down her colouring-in book she had gotten to pass the time. 

“I can’t get in touch with Booker,” Andy explained. “He’s changed his number.”

The other three had worry splashed across their faces as they not so subtly took out their phones to check. Andy raised an eyebrow. 

“Have we _all_ been in contact with Booker?” She asked incredulously. 

At three nods, she let out a worried chuckle. 

“Well fuck.”

~

Booker had had enough of the instability surrounding his life. The random phone calls or text messages he would receive in the middle of the night were nice, but he didn’t want them to be random. 

The phone call with Andy a few days ago had been the last straw, and he had called Copley as soon as the timezones allowed it to be a reasonable hour and asked him to arrange a new phone under strict instructions to not share the number with the team. When asked why, Booker nearly sobbed over the phone. 

“Please,” he managed, and Copley agreed instantly. 

The new phone arrived days later, with only one saved number in it. Booker didn’t need Copley’s number saved as he knew it by heart, but he made no move to erase it from the contacts. The silence the new phone brought him for the next few weeks was wonderful, and though it hurt to no longer have contact with the team, he felt better knowing it was now a complete shut off rather than random calls at all hours of the day. 

Booker was trying to _sleep_ goddamnit. 

The security he felt with the change was what he needed. The false hope he got everytime the phone rang was not. 

The few weeks of peace was euphoric. 

That was until the loud banging on his apartment door woke him up from his midday nap. 

Groaning, he inelegantly rolled off the couch and trudged to the door, rubbing at his eye as he opened it. Seeing his team there in front of him almost made him slam the door shut again. Frozen, he looked at their faces which were laced with worry and he furrowed his brows. 

“What’s up?” 

Andy punched his arm as she stepped forward. “What’s up? You just changed numbers and didn’t tell us?” 

“That was kind of the whole point, Boss,” Booker mumbled and rubbed his arm. “What are you all doing here?” 

“Checking up on you, making sure you didn’t die or something,” Nile spoke, annoyed undertones peeking through. 

“Well, as you can see, I’m fine,” Booker said. “But I suppose since you are all here, would you like to come in?” 

He opened the door for them and then walked to the kitchen, flicking the kettle on and putting the few dirty dishes in the sink. Thank God he had the mind to clean up a bit in these past few days, feeling better with the amount of sound rest he’d been receiving. He took down five mugs from the cupboard and put teabags in each one, knowing they wouldn’t be fussy over the choice of tea. 

Booker felt the eyes on his back but he refused to turn around until the tea was made up. Using the five or so minutes to gather his thoughts, he turned and handed them their cups, remembering how each one liked their tea. Nodding in response to their thanks, he returned to the counter and picked up his own mug, waiting. 

“Are you going to tell us why you changed your number?” Nile asked softly, breaking the silence. Booker looked at her before making eye contact with each of the others before speaking. 

“The calls.. They were nice at first, though I didn’t deserve them,” Booker started, taking a sip of his tea. “But then it just felt like I was being kept on the edges, and I get it. The deal was no contact so I was surprised when the first call came through and let it slide, but then _all_ of you started calling and I just.. I couldn’t do it.” 

“Because it hurt too much,” Joe spoke, grimacing slightly at the nod he received. 

“Yeah. I need stability in my life if I’m going to learn how to live properly and for _me_ , I can’t do that if I’m in constant yet completely random contact. I don’t think it would help any of us heal if we are still talking as if nothing ever happened.” 

“We were worried about you,” Joe replied, keeping a steady gaze on Booker. “We thought that something had happened to you when we couldn’t reach you. Why didn’t you say to ease off? You know we would have.” 

Booker snorts. “I would have had to repeat myself three times, considering none of you knew that the others were calling me. A hard drop in contact was what I needed.” 

The team all looked at each other and they remained in silence for a moment, Andy being the next one to speak. “Do you still need it?” 

The Frenchman was quiet, looking around his apartment as he thought. He was getting better, he’d like to believe. The place was clean and the curtains were open, allowing the sun to shine through and bring the apartment to life. A small amount of bottles of alcohol were contained to the corner on the bench, largely untouched and out of sight, and Booker hadn’t felt the itch to drink in weeks. He went outside for walks, he made small talk with his neighbours and the cashiers at the shops, and he came home feeling content. 

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back to them just yet. 

“I don’t,” Booker finally said. “But I’m not ready to leave Paris just yet.”

Seeing them frown at that statement, Booker’s heart rate increased slightly. Had he said the wrong thing again? 

Nicky smiled at him when their eyes met and he nodded. “I think that would be fine with us, and if it’s okay with you, we’d like to stick around for a while.”

Booker smiled back. “Of course it’s okay, I have missed you all so much.” 

Before he could put his cup down, Booker was engulfed in four pairs of arms that held him tight. 

Closing his eyes, he relished in the contact that he’d been absent of for ten years.

**Author's Note:**

> whenever i think im going to write a short fic it always spirals into something larger hehe oopsie 
> 
> follow me on tumblr: alit0my


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